:D I was wondering what salt brand do you use, and do you think one is better than the other ? :P

tangy

05-04-2007 04:57 PM

hello. any as long as it is free of nitrates and phosphates. Instant Ocean is a great brand!

caferacermike

05-04-2007 05:22 PM

There are many differences between brands. Most all are nitrate and phosphate free.

Examples.

Instant Ocean has been around forever. It is a good salt. It is especially good for fish only tanks and fish stores. It's cheap so fish shops will use it since they do a lot of water changes.

Reef Crystals just came out. It's Instant Oceans way of marketing to reefers. Those of us that are dominated by SPS corals need elevated CA, MG, strontium, moly etc.. levels. This is that attempt. It's an ok salt.

Red Sea is abhorred by everyone I know and most publications. It is the left over salt from desalinization plants. Those water treatment plants that use RO systems to strip sea water of it's salt to make it useable as freshwater for humans. There have been reports that this salt could contain any pollutants that are brought in and rejected by the RO membranes. Not what you call a synthetic "lab grade" salt. However the claim is that it is the most accurate salt available to replicate natural levels.

Kent. To many bad stories of algae problems and inconsistent MG levels. To low of MG and the CA will bind in the water and drop out. This is bad for reef tanks.

Seachem. They make 2 salts. Some are for fish setups with your basic NSW levels, NSW being natural sea water. Reef, which is what I use. The reef formula has elevated levels for coral lovers.

Tropic Marin is the new darling. They make a reef formula for every day users that need a heavy duty salt mix for corals. They also make a product known as Pro. The Pro line has elevated levels of some minerals and lower on others. It is a very serious salt for serious reefers. The lack of certain elements is due to the idea that a serious reefer has CA reactors and such. This allows some adjustments by the reefer's equipment.

And of course there are numerous other brands available. Keep in mind that the other smaller brands or what may be offered at Petco as their "house brand" is probably one of the above brands repackaged.

vinniemabuna

05-04-2007 08:02 PM

Wow Mike thanks for the info, :D If you had the choise of Instant Ocean or Seachem and they were the samr price ,which would you chose ? Also is it OK to us the Reef salt for an FOWLR setup or not ?

caferacermike

05-05-2007 10:26 AM

It is OK to use seachem reef for a fowlr, but if it is more expensive I'd choose the lesser priced between the Seachem Marine or Instant Ocean. Seachem products are made in smaller batches and they treat their operation as if they were making supplements for laboratories. Seachem is a premium brand of salt, IO is like the Ford of cars- it will get you there and back with little muss or fuss however, Seachem is like a Mercedes that will get you there and back with all the extras.

vinniemabuna

05-06-2007 08:56 PM

:D Im going to buy Seachem salt when I set-up my salt tank. At Dr foster -smith on line its not much of a difference in price.. Ive seen Instant Ocean in my LFS but Im not sure about Seachem? :P